Looking for inspiration to launch and thrive in your advocacy program?

This blog explores some of the best employee advocacy programs from well-known brands and shows how successful they are with their initiatives.

We’ll also discuss the actionable steps to build an advocacy program and how to integrate it with your internal communications.

TL; DR—Best Employee Advocacy Programs

Here’s a quick list of employee advocacy programs we shall tackle later in the blog:

1. Starbucks
2. Google
3. Cisco
4. Dell
5. Reebok
6. Salesforce
7. Adobe
8. Sky

These advocacy programs can help guide your advocacy strategy. 

Unsure about starting your advocacy program?

At Crackerjack Marketing, we have over 15 years of experience in LinkedIn branding. We can help you optimize your employees’ LinkedIn profiles to reflect their expertise and your company’s branding. We can also create LinkedIn posts that drive engagement.

Let’s start a conversation and see how to develop a winning advocacy strategy that drives thought leadership and creates the right connections.

How Employee Advocacy Enhances Internal Communications

Employee advocacy goes beyond sharing content. 

Here’s how it can directly benefit your internal communication:

• Better Flow of Information: An advocacy plan keeps all your employees updated about what’s happening in the company, allowing them to feel part of your brand.
• Provides Feedback and Valuable Insights: An advocacy program fosters open and transparent communication, enabling your employees to share honest feedback and their perspectives.
• Enhance Interactions and Team Collaboration: An advocacy program encourages internal conversations, and employees are more likely to share knowledge that can impact your entire team.
• Builds Trust and a Sense of Belonging: Trust is important in your company’s communication. An advocacy program makes your employees feel valued and trusted to speak on behalf of your brand.
• Breaks Down Communication Barriers: An advocacy program allows all departments to collaborate on shared goals, nurturing a unified environment.

Top Employee Advocacy Programs to Consider

Now let’s explore some stand-out employee advocacy examples from top brands:

1. Starbucks

Besides serving the best coffee, Starbucks excels in employee advocacy, which it has named ‘Starbucks Partners.’

Starbucks elevates the role of its employee advocates to ‘partners.’ It has dedicated pages that primarily feature the ‘partners’ sharing their experiences. 

One of the guidelines for employees is to use the hashtags #StarbucksPartners and #ToBeAPartner.

Results: It increases the employees’ brand loyalty and boosts the audience’s trust.

2. Google

Google has not been left behind in its employee advocacy. Its #LifeAtGoogle campaign lets its employees (Googlers) highlight their role in the company. 

Googlers often post company content and share highlights of their career moments.

Results: The company showcases its culture and attracts top talent.

3. Cisco

Another example of employee advocacy on our list is from Cisco. The company has a “We Are Cisco” campaign that motivates employees to share stories about working at Cisco in their own words. 

They often feature the hashtags #WeAreCisco and #LoveWhereYouWork on their social media posts.

Results: Creating engaging conversations about Cisco and building trust with potential customers and employees.

4. Dell

Dell has been about social media employee advocacy and content-sharing training from day one. The company chose EveryoneSocial to help over 10,000 employees post informative brand content on their social channels.

Results: Dell grew their shares to 150,000 and yielded 45,000 clicks on their website. The reach increased to an audience of over 1.2 million.

5. Reebok

Next on our list is Reebok, which encourages its employees to share their experiences and photos wearing the brand’s products on social channels like Facebook and Instagram. They use the custom hashtag  #FitAssCompany. They encourage the team to be authentic and share content that revolves around their passion for fitness, including cycling, running, and other forms of exercise.

Results: The brand can easily track the content their team shares and raise brand awareness.

6. Salesforce

Salesforce, a cloud-based software company, has over 25,000 social media brand advocates. Salesforce has partnered with Haiilo to help its employees share content on their personal social media platforms.

Results: Salesforce has earned a 2033% ROI on their advocacy program and an approximate 1.9B social reach in 21 months.

7. Adobe

Another brand that takes its social media employee advocacy seriously is Adobe. The company’s ‘Adobe Life’ encourages employees to share their experiences and success stories. Like Dell, Adobe also uses the EveryoneSocial platform to ensure that its team is well-equipped to share content aligned with its company values.

Results: They’ve expanded their social reach by over 3 million, and each advocate has an average of 4,000 connections.

8. Sky

Sky, a telecommunications company, allows its team to showcase the brand’s human side. Through their advocacy program, ‘Life at Sky,’ employees can share their day-to-day experiences and stories about working at Sky.

Results: The social media posts have garnered over 10 million views, which has helped Sky attract the right-fit candidates to work in that environment.

These leading companies use LinkedIn, among other social channels, for their advocacy efforts.

Are you leveraging your LinkedIn employee ambassadors effectively?

Partner with us and let us help you:

• Craft high-quality content that empowers your executives and corporate team to become thought leaders.
• Use data-driven strategies to help your employees reach the right audience and build the right connections.
• Guide your team on the best LinkedIn practices that let you develop authentic engagement.

Set a quick consultation with us, and let’s discuss how we can turn your team into the best LinkedIn champions!

Inspired by these examples to boost your brand image? The first step is to ensure that your employee advocacy is integrated with seamless internal communications, as we will see in the next section.

How to Integrate Employee Advocacy with Internal Communications

Let’s explore some ways to make sure your advocacy efforts work together with internal communications:

• Build Transparency and Trust: To cultivate a supportive culture, you should build honesty and open communication. For example, you can provide regular updates about the successes and challenges of your advocacy program.
• Gather Feedback from Your Employees: Make your employees feel heard and valued by collecting feedback regarding their views on the advocacy program. Choose an advocacy platform like Firstup to create custom surveys and gather insights from your team.
• Streamline Internal Communication with Tools: You can choose an advocacy tool with social intranet features, like Haiilo, to inform your employees and give them access to a centralized information hub.

How to Build an Effective Employee Advocacy Program

Having explored how to align your employee advocacy with internal communications, let’s now delve into the 5 steps for creating a successful advocacy program for your team and brand: 

1. Set Clear Goals

The first step is to outline your goals and set specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals. 

Your goals might include increasing your reach, driving web traffic, and generating leads. With clear goals and objectives, you can measure the success of your program and refine your strategy accordingly.

2. Identify and Train Your Employees

Find enthusiastic employees from different departments. Conduct workshops and training sessions to help them use social media effectively. 

You can create a corporate social media policy that outlines best practices for engaging with and responding to online criticism.

3. Leverage an Employee Advocacy Tool

Choose an advocacy tool like EveryoneSocial or Haiilo to allow your employees to easily access a centralized content hub and share pre-approved posts. 

Check if your chosen platform connects with major social media platforms, such as Facebook and LinkedIn. Also, review other key features, such as providing comprehensive analytics.

4. Implement Your Program and Create Incentives

The next step is to implement your advocacy program. Remember to motivate employees with a reward and recognition system. A great way to do so is to choose an advocacy software with gamification elements, making advocacy fun and engaging.

5. Measure the Success of Your Program

The last step is to monitor and measure the performance of your advocacy program. You can monitor metrics like engagement, reach, and leads. Compare the performance against your goals and use the insights to improve your program and maximize its effectiveness.

Enjoying this blog so far? Explore related blogs:

• Social listening like a rap star
• Organizing your staff for social media
• Best social media charitable giving campaigns

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) 

If you still have questions about employee advocacy programs, you can find quick answers below:

How Do Top Organizations Structure Their Employee Advocacy Programs?

Check out the top ways brands structure their advocacy programs:

1. Set clear goal, for instance, Cisco encourages their team to share personal stories, humanizing the brand.
2. Use an advocacy platform to manage and track their employee engagement, for example, Dell uses EveryoneSocial.
3. Provide training and social media guidelines, for instance, Dell has the Social Media and Community University (SMaC U) to help their team become the best advocates.

How Can Internal Communications Support Employee Advocacy?

Here are ways internal communication can enhance employee advocacy:

• It builds trust and fosters a positive organizational culture, which is essential to building excitement for your advocacy program.
• It allows employees to share their ideas and feedback, providing insights to improve employee advocacy efforts.
• It keeps your team informed and engaged, aligning them with your advocacy goals.
• It keeps the messages consistent across all social media channels.

How Can Businesses Measure the Success of Their Employee Advocacy Program?

Here are some of the top ways to measure the success of your employee advocacy program:

1. Track Engagement Metrics: They include the number of likes, comments, and shares.
2. Monitor Reach and Impressions: See how many people have viewed your content.
3. Analyze Brand Sentiment: Check your brand mentions.
4. Measure Lead Generation: Check the number of leads from your advocacy efforts.

Conclusion

In conclusion, employee advocacy efforts can significantly impact internal communication. We have also seen this through advocacy programs of top brands like Google and Cisco.

Remember to leverage LinkedIn for your employee advocacy efforts. Engage experts to harness the power of LinkedIn for your recruitment and marketing efforts.

We can help you create and manage your team’s LinkedIn profiles to achieve a professional yet authentic presence. Our team of LinkedIn specialists can help create tailored, ready-to-share posts that position your team members as thought leaders.

Connect with us, and let us brainstorm how to use your employee advocates to build the right connections!